For me the most lasting impact was not so much the games themselves, but rather all the surrounding hype about China's rise to world power, which played a big role in my choosing Chinese as my major at Uppsala University, where I enrolled about one month after the games finished. And here I am 10 years later doing a Ph.D. in the same subject...

But sports-wise it was also the first Olympics that I actually watched with any kind of active interest. Before 2008 I had been largely indifferent to sport, but here I got kind of suckered in because of my budding interest in Asia, and I've faithfully watched all games ever since. Even attending Pyeongchang 2018 in person.

I've re-watched the opening ceremony like two or three times through the years (another viewing planned for tonight), and it's kind of surreal that you can see Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai on the podium. Back then they were still respected members of the Politburo, but they've since been purged and are both in jail. You can also see Xi Jinping lurking about, who at the time was Hu Jintao's vice president. Nobody back then had any idea he would go on to become the most powerful leader since Mao.

10 years ago got to remember everything that happened
will have to give it a tossup, the US Womens 4x100m relay getting disqualified in a semi when they were the gold medal favorites and that disappointment vs Usain Bolts dominance on the track, I remember the videos of him smiling not even in a full sprint across the finish line and still setting a World Record. Fastest Man in history for a reason.